mid-15c., "pleasing to the eye," from beauty + -ful. The beautiful people "the fashionable set" first attested 1964 in (where else?) "Vogue" (it also was the title of a 1941 play by U.S. dramatist William Saroyan). House Beautiful is from "Pilgrim's Progress," where it is a proper name of a place. Related: Beautifully.